


almost meetings

by spellmotif (orchidhorror)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Gen, Siblings, light memory loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 01:04:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14659992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orchidhorror/pseuds/spellmotif
Summary: The number of times that Taako and Lup had nearly found one another on accident would be funny if it wasn’t so heartbreaking.





	almost meetings

**Author's Note:**

> Small part of a Hogwarts AU I needed to get out of my brain, also sibling feelings.
> 
> On a side note: I think I spent more time researching wand wood and cores than I did writing this.

Taako’s memories of their actual separation were fuzzy, though he suspected not as fuzzy as they could’ve been. The two of them had always been too much, far too troublesome, too rebellious for most families to handle. At least, that’s how they were together. They’d bounced around between foster homes, sometimes running away and sometimes being sent elsewhere. They had always suspected, or maybe feared, that someone would catch on and separate them, but that just meant they were ready. When the day came the two of them were hurt, and angry beyond all description. So angry that they’d hardly noticed things like the lights flickering on and off, or books flying off their shelves row by row, or a social worker’s shoes becoming not stuck to but somehow part of the floorboards.

The next time someone came for them it was a team of men in odd-looking clothing. They spoke in hushed tones, but not quiet enough that the twins didn’t hear things like “memory charm” or how they’d be a hazard together. At that point, they didn’t have time for a plan, when the two of them were called out and the strange men pointed their pointy sticks at them, Lup and Taako acted on impulse.

Meaning, of course, that she grabbed one of the sticks and he kicked one of them in the leg and they both ran off. They ran like hell as bolts of light whizzed past them, and Taako could see out of the corner of his eye one of the men’s robes had caught fire. But right before Taako could really escape, a spell just grazed the side of his head.

He ducked into an alley and the man hadn’t followed after him. Maybe they expected that the two of them would be back eventually, after all nine-year-olds didn’t usually have the wherewithal to live alone for long periods of time. But they didn’t know him and Lup, they weren’t about to come back to that house. His laugh at that died in his throat as a chill ran down his spine. Lup. He tried to conjure her up in his mind but it seemed to struggle against him. Her name, Lup, was a secret from most adults who usually called her something else. They couldn’t take that from him. All her mannerisms and her likes and her habits, they couldn’t take that either. But they took her face, and they took her voice, similar to his as they might be. It felt like trying to hold her in his brain was like trying to keep sand from falling through his hands.

 

* * *

 

The first time Lup and Taako nearly found each other again was at a train station.

Taako had spent the past few years unofficially living in the house of one Magnus Burnsides. Social services occasionally found him and shuffled him off to one of his distant relatives’ houses, though Lup was never there too. He had no clue if that meant they were just keeping them separate, or if she just ran and never looked back. He didn’t know which option hurt less. Every time he looked in the mirror he tried to imagine what her face looked like, raising his voice just a touch to see if he could recognize anything that sounded like her voice, but everything just looked and sounded like _Taako_.

Lup _did_ run, although she occasionally got caught too. Every time she bolted into a crowd or snuck out late at night she felt the sick feeling of guilt in her heart, like she was carrying on a silly charade and if she just paused and played nice long enough maybe they’d let her see her brother. But somewhere she knew that Taako would hate that more than anything, Lup following obediently behind some grownup or another that would try to place her in a role she had long since abandoned trying to play. That didn’t make leaving any easier every time.

Taako was hurrying to catch a train back to Magnus’ neighborhood when he thought he saw her again. It was just a glimpse of a little girl in a tattered red coat, pickpocketing from a man in clothes far too expensive to be worn in public. But the man stiffened, like he’d noticed something was off. The girl stumbled backwards and Taako, scared for her, acted on impulse. From the man’s other side he made a show of tripping and falling at his feet, and the crowd reacted accordingly, asking if he was okay and where his family was.

Lup ran with only a quick look at the boy who allowed her to get away, nearly doubling back when she registered that he looked almost exactly like her. But it wasn’t safe then, so with her heart tearing at her chest, she kept running.

Taako couldn’t tell if he was relieved or disappointed to see her leave.

 

* * *

 

The second time Lup and Taako nearly met again was in Diagon Alley.

Receiving their Hogwarts letters was such a relief. Something in them clicked then, the mutual realization of “if I’m magic then my twin must be too”, the undisguised hope, the small nagging fear that maybe they were wrong and they’ll show up at Hogwarts alone.

Lup had to save up for a solid months to afford the basic school supplies, so she hadn’t really expected to run into Taako there, but she was a bundle of nerves nonetheless. It hadn’t really sunk in until the odd wandmaker made a passing comment after she’d nearly exploded one of his windows (hazel and dragon heartstring was an _awful_ match for her).

“You and your brother are quite different at heart, aren’t you?” he said.

Lup froze as if stuck to the ground. “He’s been here already?” she asked, although she had known that was probably the case.

The wandmaker hmm’d. “Just yesterday. Pine and unicorn tail hair,” he said, handing her another wand. This one felt right in her hand, and for the first time in a long time Lup felt a sense of belonging in a small, ornate looking stick. Spruce and phoenix feather, springy, the man said.

After that, every store owner would either remark about seeing Lup before, or she would ask them outright if they had seen her brother, and from that she managed to gather some information. _Yesterday_ , she had only _just_ missed him, which somehow made her feel worse. She could’ve gone there yesterday and seen him, and based on an arbitrary decision she was going to have to wait another few weeks to see him.

Her brother came to Diagon Alley the day before with a Muggle boy larger and more outgoing than he was. The thought comforted her a little, at least her brother had made one friend. That’s more than she could say.

Then, at the robe shop, enter Barry Bluejeans.

 

* * *

 

The third time the twins nearly reunited was on the Hogwarts express.

It was nearly time for the train to leave and Taako had checked nearly every compartment. It was no use; Lup just wasn’t on the train. He was scared that maybe he’d get to Hogwarts and she wouldn’t be there at all, long gone and farther than he could ever reach her. Some part of him was still excited to learn magic, _real magic_ at a castle. To have food and a bed permanently, at a place that wasn’t his best friend’s couch.

Lup was very nearly late catching the train, as Barry helped her search the platform for her brother. After being comforted that maybe he’d found a different way to get to Hogwarts (after all he _must_ be going, he got a wand) they hopped onto the train and found an empty compartment. All the while the two of them never ran into one another.

It was incredible how the two seemed to mirror each other even after spending so long apart. The way they carelessly tucked their wands into their hair, the way they held themselves and moved in their robes, the way their voices rose and fell. So they spent the hours long train ride at separate ends of the train, Lup prodding Barry for more answers on the wizarding world in one compartment, and Taako sitting with three girls playing cards in the other.

When they got off the train at the station, Taako was the first First Year out and Lup was the last. He kept his eyes fixed on the lights of Hogwarts while she was trying not to let Barry fall into the water staring at the Giant Squid. He tried to look back and she tried to weave through the crowd, climbing up to the gates of Hogwarts, but the excited sea of pointed hats and identical robes made it difficult to spot anyone.

Lup paid little attention to the Deputy’s speech, or to the talking hat’s less-than-fantastic song. She tried to tag along when Barry’s name was called early on, but the crowd seemed determined not to let her through. Taako could feel his heart beating in his chest, Lup’s name would be called first, it _had_ to be. He tried to look back again, but the bookworm from the train elbowed him not to be too disruptive.

Finally, the moment when they called Lup’s name couldn’t have come any faster. Lup ran to the front of the crowd, and just before she started walking to the stool where the hat was placed someone pulled on her sleeve.

Lup stumbled and turned around, nearly falling backwards. There, right in front of her, was her brother. Here, and safe, and in the same school. She felt like sobbing in front of the entire hall, but he mouthed ‘go’ and she remembered she was supposed to be under a hat right about now.

Taako watched as Lup, and it really was her in front of him, ran up to the stool and put the hat over her head. He stared at her, almost crying because it was his sister, his sister whose face he couldn’t remember for years. And _of course_ that’s what Lulu looked like, his imagination and his own reflection could never do her justice. He watched as she pulled the hat further down her head and whispered something to it, her expression slowly changing from excitement to disappointment.

 

* * *

 

The fourth time the two of them nearly caught up was in the Great Hall.

Lup was sorted into Gryffindor, for the brave, and Taako into Slytherin, for the cunning. Although had their order been switched, Lup could’ve made a killer case for her spot in Slytherin. But here they were, same school, same year, same room, sitting at tables at opposing ends of the hall as far away as physically possible, and Lup didn’t feel very brave.

The place was magical, of course it was, candles floating overhead while the night sky was right there on the ceiling. Everything _felt_ like magic, something both of them had been able to do for their entire lives but had only now been really surrounded with.

They shared a look on the way out of the hall, as each of them were pushed with the rest of their housemates towards their new dormitories.

Tomorrow, nothing would stop them tomorrow.

 

* * *

 

Neither could sleep very well that night, even though the beds at Hogwarts were definitely the most comfortable ones they had ever slept in. Lup learned that curfew ended at five in the morning. Taako left at quarter till five. The two of them wandered the near-silent halls of Hogwarts, nervous as hell. They hadn’t seen each other in years, would they still really know each other at all?

And then Lup walked into the Great Hall, comfortingly quiet with the first rays of sunlight shining past the horizon, and she saw Taako standing across from her. And there was no doubt in her mind after that, no bone in her body that held her back as she ran forward and tackled her brother into a hug so big he nearly couldn’t breathe.

“Finally,” she said, and Taako let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Because, _of course_ , that’s what his sister sounded like.


End file.
